Plenty of people were appalled by Urban Meyer’s response to the query as to whether he had a message for Courtney Smith — the only time her name was mentioned at last night’s presser was by a reporter — but I thought it was the only honest moment of the evening.

The rest of the time was simply wave after wave of arrant nonsense requiring every rational human being listening to suspend their attitude of disbelief simply to make it through. Otherwise, how to accept that Gene Smith didn’t tell Urban Meyer about Zach Smith, Urban Meyer didn’t tell Gene Smith about Zach Smith and Shelley Meyer didn’t tell Urban Meyer about Zach Smith? It’s not possible otherwise.

The investigative report itself brings more of the same. Check out this doozie:

ii) Upon seeing [McMurphy’s Aug. 1] report when it first came out (at about 10:17 a.m.), Brian Voltolini, who was on the practice field with Coach Meyer, went to speak with him, commenting that this was “a bad article.” The two discussed at that time whether the media could get access to Coach Meyer’s phone, and specifically discussed how to adjust the settings on Meyer’s phone so that text messages older than one year would be deleted. (iii) Our review of Coach Meyer’s phone revealed no messages older than one year, indicating that at the time it was obtained by OSU on August 2nd , Coach Meyer’s phone was set to retain text messages only for that period, as Coach Meyer and Brian Voltolini discussed. We cannot determine, however, whether Coach Meyer’s phone was set to retain messages only for one year in response to the August 1st media report or at some earlier time. It is nonetheless concerning that his first reaction to a negative media piece exposing his knowledge of the 2015-2016 law enforcement investigation was to worry about the media getting access to information and discussing how to delete messages older than a year.

Investigators acknowledged that Urban Meyer was affected by the firing of Zach Smith, as well as the erroneous report about Smith’s felony arrest in 2015. Investigators also learned Meyer “sometimes had significant memory issues in other situations where he had prior extensive knowledge of events” and that the coach has periodically taken medicine that “can negatively impair his memory, concentration, and focus.”

As I listened to Meyer deliver his prepared statement at the presser, there was a complete absence of, not just emotion, but connection to being a human. It was as detached a moment as you’ll ever see. All I could think about there was that the man was more involved in his reaction to the Celebration than to Courtney Smith’s abuse. It was appalling, but really not surprising.

So that’s why I go back to the quote in the header as Urban Meyer’s moment of honesty. That “we” was heartfelt; he believes himself to be every bit as victimized here as Courtney Smith. For much the same reason, too: out of feelings for Zach Smith, he allowed his judgment to be clouded. Luckily for Urban, he’s going to come out in a much better place than Courtney Smith will.

I’m amused to hear media speculate on how much this will affect Meyer’s legacy. As if he gives a shit about that. Neither does Ohio State. Besides, give it a year, and some sympathetic media suck up will start the steady beat of stories on Urban Meyer’s path to redemption. It’ll be farcical, no doubt. Guys like Meyer don’t redeem themselves. They just focus on what makes them valuable to institutions that enable their poor judgment.

Hasn’t this last few weeks activities just confirmed what power does for you and to you? I’m just so disgusted but where does one turn. Another abused victim is shoved aside and a party to the abuser with power steps away virtually unscathed.

Listening to those 3 dildos duck, jive, and bullshit for 20 minutes would be amusing if it didn’t make me pissed.

This may not be going away as Brett and others might be demanding some more answers from the committee after analyzing the report. From what I have read so far, their conclusions are a big steaming crock of shit.

Would have more respect for OSU if it didn’t even have an investigation and just said “we don’t think Urban did anything severe and he’s a great coach”.

I just hope something like this doesn’t happen to us. I know we’ve got the Georgia Way and all, but as people have said – power and winning tend to lead people to make a lot of WTF decisions. Would be interesting to see how the UGA fandom handled this.

My guess is that our fanbase is no different from that of OSU. We’d have plenty of fans supporting a title winning coach regardless of circumstances & I’m sure our “investigative committee” would produce an equally laughable report.

He’s not wrong though. Without deliberately trying to turn to politics (it’s impossible not to draw the parallel here), how do you think most residents of Georgia feel about Trump paying hush money to a woman he was sleeping with while his 3rd wife was having his 5th child? The excuses are mirror images. Blame the woman, deny it ever happened, or dismiss it completely and say you don’t care. Georgia fans would be no different. It’s not a problem exclusive to Ohioans.

Which is why I hope it never happens to us. And to draw a parallel to our other favorite 3rd rail – Mark Richt – that was something nice about having him as coach. You felt confident there wouldn’t be a Sandusky, Tressel, or Meyer type situation. I’m NOT saying Kirby is dirty or leading us to scandal. Just that winning at all costs is a dangerous path to tread for any school.

But, it seems to me his post the other day that got out of control and inspired the playpen the Senator basically asked a commenter “why do you have to bring the President into an off topic discussion nearly every day”.

Also, it is off topic. Trump has nothing to do with OSU and you brought it here because he obviously bothers you to a point where you are compelled to bring it up on a college football blog.

Agree. I think that’s quite a leap to suggest that UGA as an institution would react the same….when there is almost nothing in our dealings with police, administration, NCAA, etc in the past 30 years to indicate such a case. Unlike a few other places, like…..well, you know who they are.

Butts-Mehre’s track record with regard to folks banging staffers shouldn’t give you a lot of confidence there. Granted, Frank Crumley wasn’t a member of the coaching staff, but there was no outrage I can recall over the lack of action until word started getting out about what he was doing.

Wow, I had forgotten about Suzanne and Don(money talks) and Damon. So yeah, some part of the fan base would act the same. Folks are no different, here or there. Meyer is shit-yes. Also, was not aware of some blind eyes toward Damon.

“…and now a statement from Coach Urban Myers. One that he did not write, did not read, and does not agree with, but has to read anyway as part of his punishment.” Urbs might as well have been reading the phone book. Blah blah blah…blah blah blah.

I’m curious to see how the media treats this in the future. That same media that has been slamming Meyer for the past two weeks will probably be all over his nuts again in no time. And I’m not suggesting they should be out to get him either. But I’d at least hope that they could find a way to report on Ohio State football without returning Meyer to whatever pedestal he’d previously occupied.

Blutarsky’s post reminds me of the Dan Wilkins (USA Today) interview conducted by Steak Shapiro this morning. The best way to characterize both is “Waaaaaaay over the top.” The media and bloggers are not in the business of reporting facts or discussing things objectively. They’ve become sensationalists, social justice warriors, advocates and character assassination merchants. So to answer your question… no the media and bloggers will not let this result stand. They’re going to continue to dig up dirt until they get the result they expect, which is the firing of both Urban Meyer and the OSU AD.

I agree that the media often seems to be pushing an agenda from one side or the other, but I hope that’s not always the case. Sometimes the agenda isn’t for one side or another, it’s just to get as many clicks or views or whatever as possible. Another unfortunate aspect is that bloggers and commentators often get thrown in to the same pile as journalists and gets viewed the same when it really isn’t. This blog for example provides commentary on UGA and all things College Football, but the Senator isn’t and (to my knowledge) has never claimed to be a journalist. He, just like the rest of us, is depending on and referring to the reporting of the people in that profession. If those people have an agenda other than exposing the facts, then it poisons the well for all of us, but I wouldn’t hold that against Blutarsky unless I knew he was intentionally referencing material that he knew to be misleading.

Regarding Urban Meyer, I was hopeful when this investigation started that the facts would come out and appropriate action would be taken as determined by those facts. In some cases, such as their inability to determine when his phone settings were changed, it’s unclear how hard they pursued that avenue and that’s discouraging to say the least. On some level, I would think that the intent to hide or delete old text messages would be enough of a red flag but apparently not. That Meyer is suspended for 3 games but will be allowed to participate in game prep and practices after the first game is also shocking to me.

I haven’t watched the press conference yet but right now there’s one thing I don’t understand. If Meyer didn’t do anything wrong, why is he being suspended? If he did do something wrong, isn’t that enough to warrant termination in light of the requirements of his contract?

The stated rational is this: Urban and Gene should have known they were required to report even without an arrest. Their belief that an arrest was a prerequisite was wrong, albeit understandable as others held the same belief. They say that in the future OSU will clarify that allegations are the condition precedent to a report not an arrest.

Thanks for clarifying. Was it ever determined if Zach Smith was really arrested though? I remember McMurphy having the original copy of the arrest report that said he was arrested, and then there was revised report that said he wasn’t. But I though the revised report was only “revised” recently, not back in 2015. So if they’d done even a minimal amount of digging back then, they would’ve found a report that said he was arrested, and should’ve acted on it. Or do I have my facts wrong? Like I said, I still need to watch the press conference.

All of this is bullshit, of course. Corch knew about the abuse at UF, yet he hired the guy at OSU. He knew about the abuse at OSU, yet kept him anyway until McMurphy forced his hand. And of course he knew about the DUI. The guy lost his license. A grown man bumming rides for 6 months will attract attention.

Corch enabled this wife beater at multiple steps. For that reason alone, he shouldn’t be leading students.

Exactly right. I understand the desire to get different perspectives on the story, but at a certain point, it’s nice to have a cut-through-the-bullshit understanding of what happened rather than everyone approaching this as if they are a defense attorney in training.

Besides, now we already have Urban’s side “in his best light”: It’s called the OSU Investigation Report. Even in that document, he looks like a lying, duplicitous, self-serving sack of shit.

It sounds like Corch and Lawyer Koffel played to type. Corch was his usual self, willing to say what he thinks is required to escape pressure, without the slightest shame or contrition. The lawyer did what lawyers are paid to do: make a ridiculous statement that he practiced in front of a mirror so he could do it with a straight face.

“But perhaps Meyer suffered from memory failures in the fall of 2015, because that period also coincides with his biggest professional memory lapse. That November, he forgot tailback Ezekiel Elliott was on the team for most of the second half of the Michigan State game.”

Many times in these and other similar circumstances played out on a larger stage, I read and reread statements by these empowered individuals, shake my head and realize that my reading comprehension is in the shithole. Then I find out there is agreement with others who read the same words.

Meyer’s insensitivity is out for everyone to see and I hope opposing fan and student signs from other teams he plays this year keep taunting his memory such that he can’t concentrate on any game plan nor be able to complete daily tasks without hearing about his buggery of OSU’s tattered sports reputation remnants. Maybe 2018 – 2019 will be the years of rectification of so many historical wrongs and lies. Hopefully OSU’s sports recruiting will not ensnare any youngsters who follow coaching idols instead of their brain while recognizing that the odds are against it..

FWIW Tri, a buddy posted some Rose Bowl highlights on his Facebook page. There is still some stuff to love. Don’t forget the assholes of the world are not limited to CFB, and sometimes the assholes win.
Karma is a bitch, hopefully that Smith cat can catch himself a terminal STD. For Irvin? Who knows. But whatever it is it will be too good for the cocksucker.

Every organization in every industry in all walks of life have their own versions of Irving Myers. At some point it will finally, finally catch up to Irving. It always does. He’s been an empty shell for a long while, as we saw in his days at FU. I can only hope that we kick his ass in a big game in the near future. And it would be fun to see the Canes do the same.

Yeah, too busy pursuing championships to be worrying about what’s happening with one of his coaches. Except when he’s writing books every other year touting his core values and leadership skills.

These assholes are all cronies..”I know him very well”…who are constantly trying to stay on each other’s good side, so when the sun is shining again they will be right there to get the heart-felt interview.

Did you see Herbie on Greenberg’s show this morning? He was sweating like a pig farting razorblades. My guess is, because he’s such a shill for osu (and I get that–letterman, graduate, etc), he could only express his “embarrassment.” Well, no kidding. That’s a real reach. He wouldn’t dare express a sentiment that espoused the immediate dismissal of Irving Myers, even if he felt it to a point of imminent cardiac arrest. He’s no different than the buffoons-in-suits who orchestrated this whole farce yesterday. Rock on, Buckeye Nation!!!

Zack Smith is a scumbag… he demonstrated that on multiple occasions…
I understand the connection between he and Meyer…
And I understand that firing someone based on rumors and innuendo is not usually the best strategy, ethically and legally…
And I understand that getting fired by your mentor is pretty much a death knell for a coaching career… so Corch would effectively be executing his prodige, who doubles as Corch’s mentor’s grandson… Granddad is also a scumbag, btw.
But I can see how he could justify throwing multiple chances the guy’s way… and it might have been ok… God knows I’m a very different person than I was when I was drinking!
But I also know that not hiring someone is easier than firing someone… And he knew Smith was a shitheel back at Florida…
So he didn’t have to hire him at Ohio State.
For that reason, Urban Meyer demonstrated that he, too, is a scumbag.
And The Ohio State University has just demonstrated that they are The Scumbag U.

Quote Of The Day

“But outside of that, the biggest advantage you can have is have good leadership, have a veteran football team, and when you’ve got that, it doesn’t matter whether you have spring practice or not. When you don’t have that, it’s tougher, when you don’t have leadership and you don’t have the experience at certain positions.”— Kirby Smart, Dawgs247, 3/31/20